Day 82, October 22nd 2007 (Plains,TX to Brownfield,TX)

I tried to wake up early this morning, but it wasn't possible. I was a little tired, but the main problem was that it was too cold. There was a strong wind blowing in the area and it made it even colder outside than what it could have been. I figured I would wait until the sunrise and then get up. The sun rose and the temperature still seemed to be very cold outside. The strong wind made it nearly impossible to stay warm. When it was 8:15 I went out of my tent and bared the cold weather. I packed everything up and went to the nearest gas station to fill up my water bottles. When I asked the lady at the register why it was so cold, I wished I hadn't have heard her response. Apparently there was a cold front that was coming through and this is what I was going to have to deal with for the next week. I was so happy to be out of the mountains and drop to a lower elevation, mostly because I was looking forward to the warmer temperatures. With the cold front blowing through here though, it would appear colder than the mountains. Nothing was able to block the wind so it was me riding out in the middle of the wind storm. With the great news that I was given for the morning, I was on my way. I was practically being knocked over on my bicycle as I was heading eastbound. The wind was blowing from the north to the south and I was having a tough time riding straight. Both hands were on the wheel at all times and it was an excruciating ride for the day. Each car that would drive by would block the wind for a split second, and then the wind would smack me again. I was going about half the speed that I wanted to be going for the day. I was really hoping for the wind to remain going east as I went to bed last night, but it had changed. Besides the wind knocking me around I had cotton fields on both of my sides for practically the entire ride. Although different than the mountains, it was still something different to see and I was able to get a great look at them with the speed I was travelling at. After riding for 3 and a half hours I had gone 35 miles and I had made it to the first town on my list for the day. I was exhausted and feeling sick from being tossed around all afternoon. I had to stop into the local library to not only warm up, but to see what I was facing outside. It was 55 degrees outside at 2 in the afternoon, and their were gusts of wind up to 40 mph. I was only sitting inside for about an hour and decided I was going to call it a day. I was feeling sick and I needed some good rest. I hadn't taken a day off for awhile now and so I figured today was the best out of any to take a day off. The weather for the rest of the week was supposed to be in the low 70's and have about half the amount of wind blowing through. I had stumbled into a fairly bad day for the weather it seemed and I didn't mind sitting this one out. I found a motel for 30 dollars for the night and I checked in. It was only about 5 pm at this point and after eating I slept. Rest seemed to be the only thing that might make me feel better at this point.

Daily mileage: 35.5 miles

Average speed: 9.8 mph

Total mileage: 5,000.0 miles